Production of expanded load-bearing members



Feb. 11, l930. M. D. BRoDY 1,745,520

PRODUCTION OF EXPANDED LOAD BEARING MEMBERS i Filed April 12. 1927 s sheets-sheet 1 *iiiizz .1| Oil" attain/zg Feb. 11, 1936. M D BRODY 1,746,520

PRODUCTION OF EXPANDED LOAD BEARING MEMBERS Filed April l2. 1927 3 'Sheets-Sheet f 2 Silicium? Feb. l1, 1930. M. D. BRODY PRODUCTION OF EXPANDED LOAD BEARING MEMBERS Filed April l2. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 s 27m/Hc: EBay/DY EIO .Patented Feb. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFEicE MAURICE BRODY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'Il O` KALMAN STEEL COMPANY, INC., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PRODUCTION OF EXPANDED LOAD-:BEARING MEMBERS Application led April 12,

This invention relates to the production of expanded load bearing members and its object is to provide a simple, rapid and economical method, yielding a product of superior quality expanded from a rolled blank and in which the strands are stretched and, together with the vassociated bonds, lie flat in a common plane. The present method may be practiced with equipment of extremely simple character and which occupies a comparatively small degree of floor space.

Apparatus for practicing the method is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus,

the upper member of the expansion guide being removed.

LFigure 2 is a central longitudinal sectional Figure 3 is a partial elevation of the rolls by which the blank is slitted, the blank being shown at the centerf of the roll pass.

Figure 4 is a cross section of the expansion guide, showing the blank partly expanded.

Figure 5 is a partial elevation of the finishing rolls, the blank being shown at the center of the roll pass.

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the expansion guide.

l Figure 7 is a plan view of the lower member of the expansion guide.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are cross sections on the lines 8 8, 9 9 and 10-10 of Figure 6.

The blank is rolled in the usual manner to a suitable I-cross section whereby a web W and flan es F are provided and the process is practiced with the blank at a working heat .of about 1600 F. The blank may be passed directly from the mill by which it is rolled to the apparatus by which it is expanded in which case no reheating is ordinarily necessary; orif ithas been allowed to cool before its delivery to the apparatus for 'its expansion it may be related in a ,furnace A from which it Sis passed to the expansion apparatus. As herein shown the blank is passed through the furnace A in the direction of its length.

The web of the blank is first formed with longitudinal slits arranged in the manner $0 suitable for diamond mesh expansion. These 1927. Serial No. 183,224.

slits, however, are not` formed by the ordinary shearing cutters butby upper and lower rolls 20 and 21 provided with peripheral rows of coincidentally arranged scoring ribs 22 by which the web is penetrated and the slits are formed without the displacement of any of the intervening parts from the plane of the web, the rollsbeing proportioned to provide suitable clearances at the bases of the ribs to accommodate the metal displaced on the strand surfaces by the penetration of the ribs. Such a manner of. slitting the blank has the advantage of avoiding lany incidental stretching of the portions by which the struts of the finished beam are provided and enables the expansion of the blank without any intervening step. I have found, moreover, that the web slitted in this manner may be given its ultimate flat expanded form by a single operation. Thus the web may be completely expanded in flat form, that is to say in lateral continuations of its plane, by a single continuous operation in which the flanges F With-y out elongation are spread relatively to one another and the strands are uniformly stretched by a direct pull in the plane of the web. By complete expansion I refer to that degree of expansion which it is intended that the finished beam shall have and include expansion to any degree within a, range which conforms 'to the requirements of sound engineering practice.

For the purpose of the expanding operation it is preferred to employ an expansion guide 3l of the construction shown but other means of continuousl and rogressively separating the flanges until t e expansion is completed may be employed. The expansion guide pre erably consists of a lower member 32 and an upper member 33, these being secured together along their marginal portions by suitable bolt fastenings 34. The adjoining faces of the members 32 and 33 are formed with recesses to provide a chamber or clearance 35 for the web of the blank. The sides of the clearance are provided by ribs 37 which engage the chord portions of the blank. Beyond the ribs 37the adjacent faces of the members 32 and 33 /are recessed to provide clearances 38 for the flanges, the 10 i ribs 37 providing the inner sides of the clearances 38. The ribs 37 extend in divergent relation and at a suitably narrow angle from the front end ofthe expansion guide to points more or less at the center of the length of said guide and beyond such approximately central points extend in parallel relation as shown in Figure 7. The clearances 38 conform in direction and length of extent to the ribs 37. 1o In their inclined portions the clearances 38 are of greater width than the thickness of the flanges F and `gradually diminish in width toward the points where they commence to run parallel, at which points and for the rest of their extent their width is still slightly greater than the thickness of the flanges F. The spreading thrust is exerted against the flanges F by the ribs 37 and the width of the clearances 38 is such that the outer faces of the flanges F do not contact with the outer faces of the clearances, frictional resistance to the movement of the blank through the expansion guide being thereby minimized. The ribs 37 are suitably extended at their y front ends, as at 39, beyond the body portions of the members 32 and 33 to engage the chord portions of the blank before the webenters the expansion guide and the rib extensions 39 are provided with shoes 40 which engage 3o the upper and lower edges of the flanges F before the latter enter the clearances 38. The supporting engagement of the rib extensions 39 and shoes 40 with the blank commences inimediately in front of the center of the pass 35 of the slitting rolls 20 and 2l and insures the accurate introduction of the slitted blank into the guide 31. C

The ribs 37 act on the flanges F to thrust i them relatively laterally outward during the 40 movement of the blank through the guide and as the flanges F are thus separated thev continuously and progressively exert-opposite and equal pulls on the slitted portion in directions of lateral outward continuation of the plane of ,the web. The result of these pulling. forces isv that the strands are bent from their associated bonds in the plane of the web and extend diagonally in such plane, alternate strands extending in opposite di- .rections, and during their bending displacement are stretched in the directions of their length and of the plane of the web. It follows that the operation of expandingpthe web is at the same time an operation for 55 bringing it toits ultimate form in which the stretched strands and associated bonds lie flat in a common plane coincident with the original plane of the lweb and the expanded product has the same 6'0 length as the blank with which the operation started, lthe flanges and the continuous web parts attached thereto and which rovide the chords of the completed beam ein `of. the same length as in the original 6 6 blan The expansion of the web is completed at the point at which the parallel extent of the flanges 37 and clearances 38 coinmences; and during the further travel of the blank in the expansion guide any inequalities or local irregularities in the flanges are smoothed or ironed out while the flanges are also definitely set in parallel relation.

lThe blank on its emergence from the expansion guide passes between upper and lower finishing rolls 4l and 42 by which all irregularities on the surface of the expanded portion are reduced and the struts of the finished beam are set, the struts and the associated bonds lying flat in a common plane coincident with the plane with which the operation started.

The slitting and finishing rollsare positively driven and are available, without fur- -ther mechanism, for the feed of the blank through the apparatus.

By the rolls shown in Figure 3 the web is slitted in three longitudinal rows whereby the expanded beam is in the form of a simple lattice truss. It will be understood, howover, that the web may be slit in twoprows or in more than three rows without varying the procedure or substantial results of the process.

'Having fully described my invention, I claim:

1. The method of producing an expanded load bearing member from a heated flanged blank having a web between the flanges which consists in forming longitudinal rows of slits in the web by a scoiing operation, the slits delimiting strands and bonds, and thereupon continuously and progressively separating the flanges without elongating them whereby to bend the strands and stretch them by a direct pull in the plane of the web until the slitted, portion is completely expanded.

2. The method of producing an expanded load bearing member from a heated flanged blank having a web between the flanges which consists in forming longitudinal rows of slits in the web by a scoring operation, the slits delimiting strands and bonds, thereupon causing the flanges continuously and without elongation to follow diverging paths with resultant bending and direct pulling and consequent stretching of the strands in the plane of the web until expansion is completed, and thereupon causing the flanges to follow parallel paths in which they are set in parallel relationv and maintain the previously completed expansion.

In testimony whereof I hereby affix my signature. l

' MAURICE D. BRODY. 

